PHYSICAL PLANT

• Create a welcoming environment which reflects the library's mission statement
• Create areas that support the intended purpose (i.e. couches near magazines, supplies by circulation desk)
• Use signage to reduce questions and create greater independence
• Allow for flexibility of space so the library can accommodate a variety of uses

Decorate to create a welcoming atmosphere

Signage in the Main Library

• Try to keep signs consistent in colour, style, and font to reduce a cluttered look.
• Paint your bulletin boards and you never have to cover them again.
• Make clear signage for main sections of the library: Non-Fiction, French, Reference, Fiction. acrylic stands from a Dollar store, Staples or library supplier work well.
• Display a small picture of the library staff with names on your counter for students to consult.
• Use a label maker to display key numbers along edges of Non-Fiction shelves and to help with location. (Brother's P-Touch machine is great!)
• Display alphabet letters along edges of Fiction shelves (A, B, CAR, etc.) and highlight popular author names.
• Send a wordless message: locate garbage cans or bottle collection cans in the entrance. (tall Rubbermaid tubs with a hole cut in the top work well and use standard garbage can liners), use different coloured book ends such as French in blue or Graphic Novels in black. This helps to denote sections clearly.
• Use a portable free-standing sign board (Carr McLean's arrow-shaped one works well) to direct traffic into the library or certain areas.
• Place signs wherever a question might be asked: "Yes, you can print from these computers", "Please cut up these newspapers", "Sorry, all the hockey posters are gone", "New books may be signed out", etc. Try to keep the tone positive but sometimes you need to be direct: "No eating in the Library".
• Keep a supply of school maps on hand to give to confused TOCs, new students, and lost visitors who wander into the library.
• For signs on the Library door, print two copies of each sign and place back-to-back in a plastic sleeve. Store in a signage folder and tape onto the entrance door when needed. Coloured paper adds punch.
• Post a floor plan on a wall or shelf near your seating area indicating how you want things arranged. Tell your custodians where it is. This helps when groups use the library space after hours.
• Try and post a magnetic whiteboard near your entrance for messages, displaying flyers from the local library, newspaper clippings featuring accomplishments of the school's students.
• Purchase a small white board and mount it on the back of the main staffroom door as a place to write notes to staff, clip up Scholastic book orders, remind people to pick up summer reads, etc.
• Create a collaged quote wall by the entrance. Students can submit favorite quotes which are school-appropriate and printed off with fun fonts. Thanks for the idea, Lizbeth!

Decorating the Library

• Home Depot has cheap plants to help create an atmosphere. However, artificial plants don't need watering or fertilizer.
• Thrift stores are great places for fake plants, lamps, sofas, chairs, bowls, display items, baskets, containers, and framed artwork. Just have a colour theme or decor in mind so the library doesn't look too thrift store chic.
• Ask your school community for items needed in the library. A newsletter plea helped us find a step stool and an iron (for repairing wrinkled pages). Write a thank you note to donors using on library-themed thank you cards.
• Obtain your own step ladder and chain it to something solid in your workroom. Then you will never have to ask the custodians for a ladder when you need to reach something and your ladder won't disappear (I got ours from a school that was being closed).
• Invite your staff to put a display in the Library display case. This will save you from always having to come up with a fresh idea. Be sure to include a sign to credit the contributing class or grade. Art teachers, science teachers, shop teachers, and textiles teachers are also often willing to contribute displays - especially around course selection times.
• Student projects can visit briefly but aren't allowed to stay. Don't let the library become a repository for dusty projects which teachers can't store.
• Save paper boxes with lids and label one end with the season or holiday: Fall, Hallowe'en, Christmas, Spring, etc. I also have one called Artifacts. Store your decorating bits and pieces in these and then decorating and undecorating is a breeze. Better yet - ask your Library Advisory Council members to adopt a holiday and decorate. It's best if you assign one person to be in charge so the decorating is more cohesive. I sometimes give an LAC member some money to go shopping at the local dollar store as decorations can look tattered after a while. After holiday sales are great times to pick up new treasures. As you undecorate discard damaged or worn items.
• Need quotes or wording to place on the library walls? I've had great success ordering from Wall Written. They have an online ordering tool and you can also book a free appointment with their decorator so you can work on your design together. I used this for my Mission Statement and for other quotes.

The Library Office

• Have a basket labelled Office for collecting anything you need to take down to the main office or teachers' mailboxes during the day. Put in notes for things you need to ask the secretary, the last wrapper from your printer paper, returned tests, etc. This will save you hunting or trying to remember things.
• Use a label maker to label the drawers and cupboard doors so you remember what goes where.
• Keep all screws, duct tape, hammers, screw drivers, adjustable book shelf clips, double-sided carpet tape, etc. in the Home Depot drawer. Computer related items in another drawer, all pamphlets and directions in another, etc.
• Make sure you have at least one locked cupboard for AV equipment, projector dongles, money, and everything else you want to keep from disappearing. I also place a post-it listing the password codes for all library computers and laptops and place it inside this cupboard. After all I'm middle-aged and can't remember everything. Don't let anyone know where you keep the key for this cupboard other than the librarian technician!
• Label all library keys with coloured tags and store in one container i.e. ladder key, front display case, library filing cabinet, computer locks.
• Barcode all extension cords and include a description. Teachers just want to borrow extension cords for one special presentation but the darn things won't come back unless they are officially signed out.
• Hang up a plastic IKEA plastic bag holder to organize bags from book purchases. Kids are always needing plastic bags.
• Designate one cupboard door at eye level and inside place a post-it notes noting the particulars for library loans of unbarcoded items (Mrs. Jones, World War II propaganda posters; March 2012 or Mr. Smith, Portable lectern, May 2012). When an item is returned the post-it note is thrown out.
• Have an area to pin up notes on students i.e. medical issues, behaviour concerns, etc. Put a piece of coloured paper over it to keep it private.
• Make labels with address, phone number, and fax number and stick onto the phone where you, or a TOC, can easily find this information.
• Hang TOC information with access codes somewhere safe inside the library office door, along with Emergency information.
• Label spines of ring binders: Destiny, Library TAs, LAC, Book Orders, Computers, etc. and keep handy to where you use them.
• Display a whiteboard for Library Goals somewhere where the students and staff can see them. Sit down with your library staff, list your projects and goals, and have the satisfaction of crossing them off as you complete them.

Share the projects you have on the go

Costco cushions invite students to stop and read agraphic novel.

The library's mission statement can be placed on the walls, notepads, emails...everywhere!